Toutanakoi (British Tribesmen)
Toutanakoi represent the majority of the Pritanoi community. They are hardy individuals, used to a life farming, however they are not outstanding in battle. They can be relied upon to hold their own, but are not comparable to an elite. Description When danger comes, like a wolf into the fold, the flock must either stand strong or else be savaged. Fortunately the Pritanoi are not as suppliant as the sheep they keep. Warfare is endemic in these lands, to the point that men who would be considered lowly farmers in foreign realms, know how to handle a spear and drive it home. If a ravenous wolf of a foe were to enter the lands of the Pritanoi, and find those who are tasked with the defending the community are not at home, he might think himself lucky. But he will soon find that the tribesmen of this land, the Toutanakoi, are not scared lambs, they are proud rams and stubborn goats. They may not have the teeth and bite of the invading wolf, they will certainly not allow themselves to become prey without a fight. Historically bonds of kinship would likely have been the main mechanism by which forces were raised in Iron Age communities. In modern, westernised societies with our nuclear families, electronic instant communication and general lack of permanence in one particular area for the entirety of our lives, the importance of local community had diminished as access to the wider world community has increased. Thus it may be difficult to imagine how closely tied Iron Age Britons were to the landscape and their local community. Cooperation between individuals was one of the ways in communities attempted to off-set the dangers which could threaten their existence. This involved communal storage of grain, as evidenced by the construction of numerous storage pits on Iron Age British sites and likely communal ownership of land, at least until the Late Iron Age. Another method of cooperation was fosterage. The average lifespan for an Iron Age Briton, based on skeletal evidence, appears to have been between 35 and 45 years, with few individuals living into their fifties and, in some regions, most dying in their mid twenties. Bearing in mind such life expectancies it is likely that many children lost their parents before they themselves had reached adulthood. To off-set this danger fosterage appears to have been employed. Fostering worked by sending children away from their birth parents at a certain age and having them raised among a different family. Early Medieval Welsh law texts state that girls tended to be fostered until they began menstruating, at which point they were considered to have reached womanhood, whilst boys were fostered longer, due to the late onset of puberty. Caesar, in describing the Gauls, notes that sons were not allowed into the presence of their father until they were old enough to bear arms, thereby suggesting that Gallic boys were fostered away from their birth parents also. Fostering had several advantages, firstly as noted above, it off-set the danger of children being orphaned, by ensuring that there would always be adults around to care for them. Secondly, based on later texts from Ireland, it seems fostering was a powerful means of creating bonds in communities. Early Irish Medieval literature speaks of the bond between foster brothers being incredibly strong. Thus when it became necessary to raise and army to defend a community bonds of fosterage would have been very important in putting large numbers of men, with a strong esprit de corps into the field. Usage These men will form the bulk of the Pritanoi armies as they can be used as cheap line infantry, being equipped with decent shields and using their numbers to hold the line while more powerful infantry or cavalry do their jobs of winning the battle. Having a general or a unit with the "inspires nearby units" attribute can make them fight for a long time. They are also effective at fighting off light cavalry due to being armed with spears. However, having such low morale and discipline makes them very vulnerable to rout by a devastating attack such a heavy cavalry charge, being the target of skirmishers and missile units or the death of the general. Category:Units Category:Units available only in EB2 Category:Aedui Category:Arverni Category:Pritanoi